True Value earnings up, sales down

Chicago-based True Value has announced its year-end earnings at $65.4 million, up 1.9% from $64.2 million as reported for 2008.

Sales for the year were $1.82 billion, down 9.4% from $2.01 billion as reported for 2008, which was a 53-week year for the co-op. Excluding the 53rd week, the decrease was 8.5%.

“Clearly the recession made 2009 a challenging year," said Lyle Heidemann, president and CEO. "High unemployment and increased savings rates reduced consumer spending. The weak housing and construction industries slowed contractor purchases. In addition, our retailers managed their inventories and cash flow tightly. All of these factors put downward pressure on our revenue."

Heidemann added that the company was able to increase net profit through expense control and inventory management, which also reduced the company’s debt by approximately 14%.

"At the same time we increased our financial support of our retailers' implementation of Destination True Value (DTV), our new store format. We opened a new or remodeled DTV at the rate of one per week in 2009," Heidemann said.